Steve, it would be interesting to see your list of engineers who could walk the walk (and those that couldn't - or wouldn't) compared to the opinions of some of us who rode with them :) Given the likelihood most have left us, it probably wouldn't ruffle many feathers. Doug
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Tom and Bob
It is not that easy. As a dispatcher I use to catch the Chicago Chief' job on occasion in the mid-70-83. Often Northtown would kick out a train that would work great on the river grade St. Croix to Savanna but then the water slopped into the boat. There use to be tonnage charts out that would tell you what tonnage each unit was rated to move over the grades. It often would work out you would have to either set cars out at Savanna or go "Around the Horn"( south at Savanna on the Pea Vine to Denrock and to Mendota((a long continuous grade with less traffic))) rather then the roller-coaster grades on the C&I. Or steal a unit off a westbound train. Diesel Control in St. Paul did not like you stealing units but also could care less IF the train had enough power just get it over the road. A lot also depended on WHO the engineer was as some could move trains(were not afraid of the load meter) while other could sometimes not even move a car let alone train.
In modeling you do not have to worry about what the loco will pull as all the cars roll and weight the same??
Steve in SC
On Sunday, June 2, 2019, 6:24:01 PM PDT, Robert Herrick <rdherrick@gmail.com> wrote:
The reason I'm asking is because of the track layout at Milledgeville. The run-around came off the west end of the passing track and ended in a stubbed tail track on the east end. If I've measured correctly off the station map, the tail is only 800 feet. There are several photos by Marty Bernard on the RR photo archives site that show PU (according to him) with a mimum of two units--an F unit and a GP30--to a several unit power assemblage. I'm curious how switching was done with three-units on that short tail track. Leo, did you work Milledgeville?
Bob Herrick